Ken Stevens | ksteven2@mlive.comThe 410-foot Lake Michigan car ferry S.S. Badger departs Ludington on the first voyage of the season to Manitowoc, Wisconsin on the morning of May 24, 2012. The Badger began service in 1952.

The 2013 sailing season is in jeopardy if the Badger does not receive a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency permit to continue its coal ash disposal into Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan Carferry officials are asking for a five-year permit that would allow the company time to convert the Badger to another, cleaner fuel such as liquefied natural gas.

“The Badger is the top priority for the city this year,” Ludington Mayor John Henderson told The Chronicle before walking on the Badger to depart on the first passage of the 2012 season to Manitowoc, Wis.

The community has a Save Our Ship organization that is providing the local lobbying voice for the continuation of Badger operations. The Badger means 200 jobs, a major force in the Ludington tourist economy and an historic link from the more than 100 years of ferry operations out of the city’s port.

“For me personally, I think they are going to get this done,” Henderson said of securing the ever-critical EPA permit. “The city is focused on moving this forward.”

Henderson called on Badger critics in Milwaukee and Muskegon -- who find the continued exemption from federal clean water standards an unfair business advantage vs. The Lake Express -- to take a broader view.

“We should all be working to keep jobs in Michigan,” the Ludington mayor said.

By talking to those riding on the first lake crossing Thursday morning or just dockside to see the Badger back in operation, they say they don’t know what all of the fuss is about.

Dorothy and Don Bratt of the Grand Rapids area were waiting in line to get on the Badger for a trip to Wisconsin to see family for a high school graduation. They use the Badger at least once a year to visit Wisconsin, they said.

“I hope this keeps going,” Dorothy Bratt said. “This is a wonderful way to miss all of the Chicago traffic.”

As for environmental issues surrounding the coal ash controversy, Don Bratt is having none of it.

“This whole business with the discharges is the most preposterous thing I have ever heard of,” Don Bratt said as he walked on board the Badger.

Count Donald Johns as optimistic that the Badger will get its EPA permit and he will again be dockside in 2013 to send off the ferry off for another season. Johns has been watching the Badger and other Ludington ferries ships since the 1960s. From Chicago Heights, the 84-year-old Johns is now a summer resident of Hamlin Lake just north of Ludington.

Ken Stevens | ksteven2@mlive.comDonald Johns, 84, a summer resident of Ludington from Chicago Heights, Illinois takes a photograph as a semi truck is loaded onto the 410-foot Lake Michigan car ferry S.S. Badger as it prepares to leave Ludington on the first voyage of the season to Manitowoc, Wisconsin on the morning of May 24, 2012. Pictured behind Johns is the Spartan, the former sister ship to the Badger now used for parts.

“They’ll get their permit,” Johns said of the Badger owners. “This business is too big of a thing. This is history. You can’t stop that.”

The city of Ludington’s interest in the Badger is economic, Henderson said.

“When we speak about the ferry it has become a political nightmare,” the mayor told a small gathering seeing the Badger off. “But here in Ludington this is a Main Street issue.”

The more than 100,000 passengers that travel through Ludington’s port each summer to ride the Badger support the motels, restaurants and gas stations in this waterfront community, the mayor said. The Old Hamlin Restaurant on Ludington Avenue just blocks from the ferry dock is closed January through March but Thursday morning was filled with ferry passengers by 5:30 a.m.

“Our local merchants every day look for the ferry to run,” Henderson said. “We are very proud to be the Badger’s home port.”

Tom Hawley was once the public spokesman for the Lake Michigan Carferry but he left his communications and marketing position with the Badger 12 years ago to open the Jamesport Brewing Co. just east of the Badger dock. He said that the Badger directly generates around 12 percent of his microbrewery’s summer business.

“The Badger has a huge impact on this community,” Hawley said walking back to his car from seeing the Badger off on its first crossing to Wisconsin. “It’s a symbol of our community. It’s our tradition and it employs our people.”

Republican U.S. Representative Bill Huizenga talks about the S.S. BadgerRepublican U.S. Representative Bill Huizenga of Zeeland from Michigan's 2nd congressional district speaks in Ludington on the morning of May 24, 2012 in support of the 410-foot Lake Michigan car ferry S.S. Badger. Thursday marked the start of the season for the Badger's trips to Manitowac, Wisconsin and back.

Season begins for the S.S. Badger in LudingtonThe 410-foot Lake Michigan car ferry S.S. Badger leaves Ludington on the first voyage of the season to Manitowoc, Wisconsin on the morning of May 24, 2012. The Badger began service in 1952. Bob Manglitz, president and owner of Lake Michigan Carferry and S.S. Badger talks about the start of the season.